Happy 2013 from ALT Summit and Salt Lake City

For those of you that are following me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram you know that 2013 has started off with a bang and I have been busy working on many great new design projects that I can't wait to share with you soon.

In the meantime, I made it to Salt Lake City for another fantastic year of ALT Summit that helped start this blog last year!! See what a difference 1 year can make!?

So if you want to get a little of the great content form the many panels and keynotes throughout my day, make sure to follow my live tweets.

To start I made a quick stop in the Bing Lounge with a quick photo booth shot, ..

Thanks BING for this great Lounge

Then after a day filled of fantastic and engaging conversation and panels I got my "green" on as I joined in the festivities as 'Mrs Green' at the Clue inspired Joss and Main party which got everyone including Mitra form Joss and Main and Gabrielle Blair from Design Mom and our hostesses, to dress as Mrs Peacock.


A little touch of vintage from others in the room, and much more!

That's all the pictures from here for tonight - I need to get ready for another day full of great content. Enjoy!

Mrs Peacock I presume?  Gabrielle Blair from Design Mom, Lynn Byrne of Decor Arts Now

Mitra of Joss and Main

1-2-3: Top Trends from ALT SUMMIT

Sticking to the weekly schedule I thought it would be a nice way to share some of the great trend spotting from ALT Summit...

 

TREND #1 ~ and while trying to avoid sounding repetitive - It Is ALL About The Cards!

P.S. If you spot yourself, make sure to say hi & leave a comment with your link.

These are only a few of the many cards I took home with me. All from fellow creative types - Bloggers in all shapes and forms (Artists, Photographers, Graphic Designers, Moms, Designers, DIY and Crafts, ...) and I could keep going.

TREND #2 - Gotta have the right shoes!

TREND #3 - You might as well not go outside without your lips on!

More ALT Summit recap headed your way!


Special shout out!
Last night was a highpowered - fastpaced night for my regular (and some new) twitter chats!
They are THE place for information and meeting like minded people...


A few special friends helped me make it to 1000 followers last night on Twitter, so as a big thank you, they get a special mention on this post for so much fun last night. Please check them out!

1. Barbara Elza Hirsch @elzabdesign  http://www.facebook.com/elzabdesign
2. Carmen Christensen @Time2Design http://time2designinc.blogspot.com/ 
3. Mark Johnson @MarkJohnsonFAIA @markjohnsonckd http://www.linkedin.com/in/markjohnsonfaia

and my new best friend: my 1000th Follower Melissa Allen Heath @melisheath http://sustainablesuburbia.wordpress.com/ 


If you are on Twitter please follow them too...

Peek-a-Boo: ALT Summit ~ Successful Collaborations Panel

I just got back from a long weekend in Salt Lake City where I attended an amazing conference  ~
ALT Summit.

It is the 3rd year, and was created by Gabrielle Blair of "Design Mom", Kate Schoening, and Sara Urquhart that describe the event in the article in HuffPost Culture as "clever and smart and beautiful and kind. It's like a weekend getaway with your best friend: well-deserved, rejuvenating, overdue and comfortable." Don't let the gal-pal tone belie the serious intent of the conference."








I have to say I really wasn't sure what to expect as a new blogger, and a first time attendee. I was so excited and completely terrified about a 2 1/2 day talking, breathing, eating
BLOG - A - THON!

The panels and panelists were all so amazing it was really hard to choose and at that moment I really understood the beauty of cloning yourself!

So over the course of the next few weeks I will do my best to go through all of my notes (literally filled an entire notepad full of them!) and will post my #TOPQUOTES from each panelist, starting with my first session about Successful Collaborations.

Danielle Krysa from The Jealous Curator
Victoria Smith from SFGirlByBay
Joslyn Taylor of Simply Lovely
Bri Emory of Design Love Fest








Coming together with other great creative, sparks of energy and great quality content can emerge from these types of collaborations.. these 4 professional bloggers shared their stories on how they have each had ups and downs in creating teams.

They were honest and open and very funny ~ Basically, they had all of us at Hello!...

• "constraint that yields creation"
• "try and connect with those that have a similar aesthetic as you, but can see things with a fresh outlook"
• "avoid working with friends, just because they are friends. you need to be able to connect creatively, and be demanding and respectful of each other's work."
• "create a voting system that not only reflects the majority but also HOW important each matter is to everyone"
• "never pair off in a discussion! if you are a group of 3, discuss everything as a group of 3"
• "better to do 1 thing well and Kick *A%$% * than to do 10 things by simply phoning it in"
• "never, ever air your dirty laundry online :-)"
• "it's human nature to share"

Also collaborations with big brands and sponsors were shared, especially one with Victoria and Ben Silberman of Pinterest. After a chance meeting at ALT only 2 years ago, they were able to collaborate in the "Pin it Forward" campaign which even Ben himself attributed to a huge reason for this sites success...

SO, what's the moral to this story you ask? Dream BIG...no...Dream HUGE! Anything is possible. 


And by the end of this first session...

 

I am already counting the days till ALT next year..  I might just keep that date a secret though till I can guarantee a spot ~ don't want to have it fill up before I can register :-)

Just being honest!

REMINDER: Tomorrow I will announce the WINNER of my *Lonely Window* giveaway, where the grand prize is a gorgeous set of Silk Panels (in a color of your choice) offered by The Curtain Exchange of New Jersey and Westchester - you have till the end of the today to post your pictures on my Facebook page ~ here ~ and get all your friends to comment.

For more details please visit the post.

*other images were taken by me for ALT blog post. Share kindly :-)

*image of me and panel are from Alt’s Flickr stream. by the fantastic photographers that documented the event